Canary Islands

We went two weeks ago now, to Grand Canary Island - Las Palmas. It's part of Spain, but is off the east coast of Africa...very close to Morocco. It was our last European vacation. We went with Kelly and went for 4 days! :) Our hotel was within walking distance from the fabulous beach called Playa de Las Canteras.

We got in on Wednesday mid-day, got checked in to the hotel and then headed out to the mall close to the hotel for lunch. Gene had paella...rice, veggies and seafood, and I had a great burger! We walked around the mall and picked up some good deals on beach wear!! From there, we got on the hop-on, hop-off bus and rode it around town to figure out what sites we wanted to see the next day and how far they were since we had a 48 hour ticket. Then, we hit the beach!!! Where we got off the bus at, we saw this awesome sand sculpture being built. It was a Christmas scene and was looking like it would be very cool in the end. Then, we just walked the beach until it got dark and was time for dinner. We walked from one end to the other and took about 3 hours or so. Fabulous beach! :) Plus, it didn't hurt that it was Nov 30 and around 75 degrees!

Thursday, we got up early and hit the beach. They groomed the beach that morning and it was so beautiful. We got some great pictures and got our feet and legs wet in the Atlantic! :) After a yummy breakfast of fruit tarts, we got ready to go see the town. We toured on the bus...got to see the Casa de Colon - where Christopher Colombus lived...he stopped in the Canary Islands on his was to the Indies when he found the Americas. We saw a beautiful church and also a great park where we had lunch at. We all had paella this time. We walked around and just enjoyed the beautiful weather we were having there! That night, we ate at Macaroni Grill on the beach front...not quite the same as the US, but had some good pizza!

Friday morning, we got up and headed bright and early to the airport to rent a car. We decided that we wanted to drive to the south side of the island to see the sand dunes and beaches there in Maspalomas. The beaches here were a bit darker colored sand due to the volcanic rock on the islands. And jelly fish were dead all over the beach. It was amazing to see the sand dunes...it was a total different scenery than what was in Las Palmas. We also had our first experience with a nudist area. The sand dunes are marked as a nudist area, but anyone can adventure in to see them (sand dunes and the nudists). They are also a world heritage site (sand dunes, not the nudists). If you check out the pictures on snapfish, there may be a chance you find some naked people in the distance...sorry! And, if you have seen some of Gene's posts on facebook, this was his inspiration or something like that ;) We headed back to the main beach area and grabbed a quick lunch at McDonald's on the beach front. Then, got in the car and drove to the cactus farm (had cacti from all over the world, chickens and some donkeys) on the east side of the island. Along the way we saw some fabulous views and stopped to take pictures alongside the road. The roads at this point were quite curvy and down to 2 lanes and no longer interstate roads. The cactus farm was full of fun! What would you do was played with King Leonidas, first-year interns and more. We were the only ones besides the workers there. Then, back on the road...this time the road was even more curvy and was up the mountains and down, then up, then down and around some too. We played extreme peek-a-boo with oncoming traffic and saw falling mountains signs (not just falling rock signs). And, instead of the Big Ben scene from European Vacation, it was "hey a cactus, hey a brown rock, hey a cactus, hey a brown rock..."! We finally made it back to Las Palmas around dinner time. We drove around the entire island in a day! Again, we had dinner on the beach front. It's a must when you are on an island, in December and great weather! ;) Then, we went to walk around the finished sand sculpture. It's the largest in Europe and they do it every year. It was quite amazing what they did!

Saturday, we thought we would try and golf, see a volcano and crater, and possibly tour a rum factory. We went to a golf course near-by and were denied...only members or you had to book at least 24 hours in advance. Bummer. Then, we drove to the volcano/crater. Some great views from the top, but dang the drive to get there. It was a very, very, very high drop-off right next to the passenger side of the car and we just kept going around the volcano to get to the very top. Not quite my thing. Then, we tried to get to the rum factory. Again, denied. They close on the weekends. Kelly was pretty bummed. But, instead we got to see a beautiful church in the town where the rum factory was at and I got some candied almonds....a 1/2 kilo of them....I didn't realize how much a 1/2 kilo really was. I finally finished them today...2 weeks later almost. Then, we headed back towards the airport to head home. We stopped at a mall along the beach front so we could walk around the beach some more. It was a very rocky beach, but got to enjoy it a bit more. Then, to the airport to return the car and get checked in for our flight home and back to cold Switzerland. :(